Author Archives: manish

Camping out

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The troubled relationship between desis and camp:

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Given the number of desi engineers, you’d think the Trekkie quotient would be through the roof, but desis have never been strong with knowing campiness. Irony is the forte of post-materialist, post-sexual revolution societies… Unintentionally camp, now, that’s different: guys with bad haircuts and thick plastic civil service specs; aging, tubby icons romancing young lovelies; Indian Superman. The legion of desi camp could overrun a big tent party and still leave badly-shirted henchmen mewling at the gates.

More here.

The ugly Microsoftian

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p dir=”ltr”>There was a brouhaha over Kashmir in Windows 95:

When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds. “It cost millions… Some of our employees, however bright they may be, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world…”

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The liqueur of the literary

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Abhi, one of our bloggers, has a great post on the film Before Sunset and the absinthe of fiction. He just posted it, hasn’t told me about it or asked me to link it, but it’s deliciously, deliriously romantic:

Fiction is a heartless charlatan… You are incapable of a normal relationship because normal is a pale substitution for what already flows in your veins: possibility… Years later you don’t fit anymore. You stand out like a heroin addict on a Friday night, wearing long sleeves so no one will notice.

On losing a deep connection:

Is it possible that you can experience a period of time so perfect, so idealized, that it stains your soul with a color that nothing else can ever match? If so, aren’t you screwed for the rest of your days?… [A]ll the things that I spend the majority of my Time doing, are really motivated by one thing. Finding a color to match the stain.

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Pakistani made out to be the new Willie Horton

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A candidate in a North Carolina Republican congressional primary baselessly calls Pakistani immigrant Kamran Akhtar a terrorist (via Shashwati’s Blog). Here’s what the TV ad says:

“When Vernon said our unguarded Mexican border was a threat to our national security, the liberals laughed… They’re not laughing anymore. This is Pakistani terrorist Kamran Akhtar. He got arrested videotaping targets in Charlotte, North Carolina. He came here illegally, across our Mexican border… I’m Vernon Robinson and I approve this message because Akhtar didn’t come here to live the American dream. He came here to kill you. In Congress, I will shut that border down.”

Here’s what law enforcement says:

Last month, 35-year-old Kamran Akhtar was arrested while filming Charlotte’s downtown skyline… A high-ranking law enforcement official in New York said investigators there view Kamran Akhtar as a “video buff” with no links to terrorism… “At this point, there is nothing to connect this individual to any terrorist plot or organization,” Beatty [North Carolina’s head of homeland security] said Wednesday.

Vernon Robinson’s primary opponent, Republican Virginia Foxx, complained: Robinson is pulling accusations out of his colon.

Update: Robinson lost his primary to Foxx today, so his ad smacks of a last-minute Hail Mary. But he had 45% of the vote, which is just scary.

First Indian-American Olympic medalist!

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A huge congrats to Mohini Bhardwaj on medalling in her first, and probably only, Olympics! The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won silver today, 2nd to Romania and ahead of Russia. This is a historic day: Bhardwaj is the first Indian-American Olympic medalist ever, and as far as I know, the first Indian-American Olympian. She’s been working toward this day off-and-on for 21 years.

The U.S. team leaned heavily on the veteran Bhardwaj in their medal quest. She competed in every finals event except uneven bars:

[T]hey could also be proud of the way 25-year-old Mohini Bhardwaj came in at the last minute to replace Kupets on the balance beam, allowing Kupets to nurse her sore right leg a little longer before performing on the floor. “For Mohini to come in like that, with three minutes warning, that shows the preparation this whole team had,” Bela Karolyi said.
They used her in as many events as the team star, Carly Patterson, and more events than any other team member. Poor Courtney McCool was benched entirely due to preliminary round jitters.

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Bhardwaj makes Olympics finals

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The U.S. women’s gymnastics team made it into the finals yesterday, in 2nd place after Romania. Mohini Bhardwaj also qualified for the individual finals in the floor exercise. That’s the event that resembles acrobatic street teams in New York City, but without the black people 🙁 And it’s got some dated, frou-frou, high school cheerleading moves interleaved with all the tumbling, as breaks for muscle recovery.

Now, most of these teen gymnasts look incredibly stressed with the weight of national prestige on their shoulders. You can see the relief on their faces when they step off the mat. In contrast, if you watched Bhardwaj on Monday, her features settled into a frightening, wide-eyed, murderous look the instant before she launched onto the runway; later she said she needed to dial back on her aggression to land her vaults. Sistah is so hardcore. Her style seems higher on power than grace, the opposite of the skinny, lanky Russian diva Svetlana Khorkina.

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Anju Bobby George stretching for long jump gold

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Anju Bobby George is India’s best shot at an individual medal in Athens and was the flag carrier during the opening ceremonies. She placed third in women’s long jump at the 2003 World Athletic Championships in Paris and has been training with men’s long jump record holder Mike Powell in California:

Her husband Bobby, a champion triple-jumper, was the youngest of eight brothers moulded by their father into a volleyball team. The George Brothers would play on the volleyball court in their Kerala home at Peravoor and, though all were adept, Jimmy was the star. He played for India and on the European circuit before being killed in a car accident in the 1980s. Jimmy’s popularity — he played the sport for 17 years — was such that the Italians, the World Cup winners, constructed an indoor stadium and named it after him.

Track and field begins Wed., Aug. 18, and continues through the end of the Olympics.

Update: George just landed an endorsement contract with Nike.

Mohini sans tahini

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Mohini is pronounced MO’-hi-nee, NBC people. It does not rhyme with tahini sauce! It’s really not that hard. You make it sound silly when you say it that way, Elfi Schlegel. And you’ve got her parents’ names reversed:

Bhardwaj’s mother, Kaushal, is from Russia and her father, Indu, is from India.

Great NBC video of her previous competitions, including a vault with a double twist and a jaw-dropping back flip-forward flip combo. Watch her in the Olympics this Sunday and Tuesday nights. The coaches just promoted her to competing in all four events, not just vault. Go, Mo!